A Changing Narrative: From Hacking to Storytelling

Who owns the future of the internet? The utopia of a free and equal internet through a global connection of mankind has been corrupted by the recent disclosures of mass surveillance and fast growing epidemic cyber crime. In the last ten years, the internet has become crucial to everyday life, enabling people to interact in a personal and professional way and freely build connections and businesses.

But major companies such as Facebook, Google and Apple have managed to create predominant services and communities—whose free use we pay for with our data. And while activists invoke digital civil rights through encryption, hacking and campaigning, governments continue to violate human rights in the name of fighting global terrorism.

Similar to how we discuss the organization of established infrastructures such as energy and transportation, today we need to discuss the ownership and control of the future structure of the internet. Many questions arise: What can we learn from Snowden and Assange? How can we be free in a digital world? What happens to our privacy? Does governmental security inevitably mean total control?

The impact of mass surveillance and the uncontrolled use of big data have inspired cultural producers to change the narrative to regain privacy and dignity for everyone. In light of this, d.day will host leading minds from digital activists to theater directors to learn more about their narratives of the internet in a post-Snowden world. To reinvent the use of the internet from a commercial to a social space, we will focus on the role of transparency and personal dignity.